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Elder Toguro
was a major antagonist during the Dark Tournament and the Chapter Black Sagas, as well as a minor one at the end of the Spirit Detective saga, making him the longest running villain of the series. Along with his younger brother, he plays the role of leader of the Apparition Gang, he is a member of Team Toguro, and a vital member of Sensui's crew. He is voiced by Katsumi Suzuki in Japanese and by Bill Townsley in the English FUNimation dub. Appearance Being the older brother, Toguro has a somewhat-elderly and bedraggled appearance. He bared a more European-like appearance, in contrast to his Asian-looking brother. His most noticeable feature is his snow-white skin color, the cause of which is unknown. He has long, unkempt, gray hair parted down the middle of his head, long, pointy finger nails, and wears a dark blue button-up shirt, and matching pants. He is significantly smaller than his brother, who is twice his size, and is initially seen perched on his younger brother's shoulders.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 22. While he is diminutive in both versions, his size is considerably different in the manga and anime. In the anime, his height is believable for a normal human being. In the manga however, he is much smaller, being the size of a small animal. Given that Toguro is a shape-shifter with full control over his body, he occasionally twists the inside of his body, moving various organs to unusual areas, such as his heart onto his hands. Toguro could manipulate his body to such an extent that his hand could become a dummy for his full body. Toguro could even take on the form of inanimate objects, whether it was a limb or his entire body. And in one occasion, he displayed the ability of replicating the appearance of other people, namely Genkai, during his fight against Kuwabara. Personality Elder Toguro differs from his younger brother in many ways. He is noticeably sadistic, gaining pleasure from torturing his opponents both physically and mentally. This is something which has been shown to bother his younger brother. He is arrogant, stating that out of the two brothers he is the brains while the Younger Toguro is the brawn. He is disrespectful, mocking Genkai after her death. Worst of all, and much to Younger Toguro's displeasure, he has no sense of honor and has been shown to use dishonest means when fighting. Like all of his team, he enjoys fighting, as seen when he stepped up to fight Hiei, but was interrupted by Bui. He has some respect for his brother, as he is visibly upset when Younger Toguro decided to turn on him after his disgusting insult to Genkai. Regardless, both brothers shared common interests, as both chose to become demons that never grew old, completely followed the orders of their contractor, allowed Bui and Karasu to join their team, knowing that they were planning their vengeance, and harbouring feelings for Genkai. However, Elder Toguro merely had a sexual attraction to her during her youth, as opposed to Younger Toguro's deep respect for her as a fighter and as a person. Synopsis History Fifty years before the start of the series, Elder Toguro, alongside with his younger brother and his girlfriend Genkai, had built a dojo together, where they trained a large number of pupils. This mutual ambition was devastated after the demon Kairen had broken into the dojo, killing of all of their students within a single night. After Kairen's attack, Toguro's younger brother had disappeared for three months, but afterwards showed up in order to fight along side his older brother and Genkai in the Dark Tournament. After winning and becoming champions of the tournament, the two siblings wished to become demons so as to never grow old and to continuously train on their powers. Some time in between the fifty years of the last and next tournament, the Toguro Brothers defeated Bui and Karasu, and forced them to join Team Toguro so as they might one day exact their revenge. Saying in episode 51 that their time of death was no longer theirs to decide. Until the day that they were strong enough to defeat him, they would do as what was asked of them. Both siblings had eventually ended up working for Sakyo. Spirit Detective Saga Elder Toguro first appeared with his brother under contract to crime boss Tarukane.They were the leaders of the demon mercenary group the Apparition Gang. Tarukane assigned them to get the ice maiden Yukina to cry, in order to extract the valuable gem stones that morphed out of her tears. Noticing that physical torture was useless, as Yukina had gotten used to it, Elder Toguro murdered a couple of birds that had been visiting the ice maiden's room. Unable to save their lives, Yukina begins crying and as such, the sibling, along with Tarukane, leave her room with the stones they had obtained. Both siblings later view the attack on Tarukane's mansion, studying their adversaries as they make they way inside. After defeating most of the Apparition Gang and then their elite unit, the Triad, both Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara are forced to fight against Younger Toguro and his older brother. Elder Toguro took up the shape of a sword and a shield for his brother, but Kuwabara still manages to launch his sword into the younger sibling's stomach. As the fight is over, and the Black Black Club members stop their transmission, Younger Toguro reveals that he was still alive and Elder Toguro turnes back into his normal form. They were secretly working undercover for Sakyo, as a means of forcing Tarukane into gambling away his entire fortune on the Toguro Brothers's victory. Dark Tournament Saga Elder Toguro makes minor appearances along side his brother throughout the tournament, though he never spoke. He was first seen fighting against the Gorenja Team in the semifinals. As three of Gorenja's team members all attack Toguro at once, the latter impales them without even moving the slightest bit. He killed Momorenjya, and told the remaining two members to beg for their lives. Aorenjya begged for his life but Toguro had killed him anyway. Afterwards Akarenjya said that he would rather die then beg for his life. Elder Toguro tells Akarenjya that Younger Toguro would probably like to recruit him to the team, but Elder Toguro killed him regardless saying that Younger Toguro isn't here. Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 51. In the Final Round, he fought against Kazuma Kuwabara. Elder Toguro had the advantage from the beginning, managing to outsmart Kuwabara and almost kill him quite a few times.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 59. It was only with the help of the Sword of Trials that Kuwabara won, shaping it into a fly swatter to flatten Elder Toguro completely.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 60. It is later revealed at the start of Yusuke's fight against Younger Toguro, that the elder sibling had survived his last match, as he liquified his entire body in order to escape certain death. Regardless, Kuwabara had still won the previous match. Still alive, Elder Toguro offered his brother the chance to use him as a weapon, but Younger Toguro, apparently upset at the way his older brother had previously, disgustingly insulted Genkai and how she died, refused his offer and, literally, kicked Elder Toguro off the island. (In the Japanese version it is due to Younger Toguro being angry that his brother suggested they try to cheat, with Younger Toguro pointing out that he never had forsaken his honor when they sold their souls to became a demon)Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 60. Chapter Black Saga Shinobu Sensui gathered seven psychics to help him annihilate the humans, one of them being Gourmet. While it was initially believed that Sensui had betrayed Toguro, having Gourmet swallow him, it was revealed to be part of their plan, and Toguro managed to take over Gourmet's body. After Kurama split Gourmet's head in half, Toguro's head burrowed out. Since his regeneration made it impossible to kill him, even if his heart or brain was damaged, Kurama used the Sinning Tree to forever keep Elder Toguro in constant pain, locked within a hallucination of his worst nightmare. As Kurama put it, 'rogues like you deserve to be damned', so would Elder Toguro be locked in his own personal Hell forever.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 84. Techniques/Moves * Bodily Manipulation (武体, Bu-Tai, translated as Weapon Body): Toguro has the unique ability of manipulating the anatomy and physiology of his body. He usually elongates his finger(s), which can be used to grab, or stab, his opponent. He can also transform any part of his body into an edged weapon. He can even transform his entire body into a specific weapon, such as a sword or a shield for his younger brother to wield in combat (in the English dub, he claims to be able to transform in a machine gun). Additionally, he is able to freely relocate any of his internal and external organs around and inside his body, being able to avoid a lethal damage to his body, which made killing him virtually impossible.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 59. He could even liquefy his body if he wanted to.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 60. A related ability to this is his extraordinary regenerative abilities which renders him essentially immortal. Originally, Toguro could only recreate lesser important body parts such as muscle and skin tissue. But after receiving a mortal blow from his younger sibling, Toguro was able to survive the impact, slowly regenerating a deformed head. Later on, he develops an advanced regeneration skill which allowed him to repair and even reconstruct major internal organs such as his brain and heart. This power, however, turned out as his downfall, as he would keep regenerating while trapped in Kurama's Sinning Tree, suffering an illusion for all eternity, unable to die; this meant that the regeneration occurs involuntarily. * Technique/Power Assimilation: After Gourmet's failed attempt to consume him, Toguro survives the assimilation, burrowed deep inside the man, gaining control of his body and powers.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 84. :* Mind-Reading: Prior to his demise, Gourmet had appropriated Murota's ability to read the thoughts of others.Yu Yu Hakusho, episode 84. Trivia *Elder Toguro from the last part of the Spirit Detective Arc, the whole Dark Tournament Arc and near the end of the Chapter Black Arc is the longest lasting antagonist in the series. *Elder Toguro's name literally translates to "Snake Coiling." *Though Elder Toguro was arrogant because of his immortality, it ultimately backfired on him when he was caught in Kurama's Sinning Tree technique. *Two characters of Togashi's second, hit manga series Hunter X Hunter, bare small, but noticeable resemblances to Elder Toguro: :#'Menthuthuyoupi', a minor antagonist of the series, is a chilling figure, nearly always portrayed with a sinister grin on his face, chalk white skin and bares a similar body manipulation ability, being able to grow any sort of organ anywhere on his body. :#'Ikalgo', a minor antagonist, later became an ally of the main protagonists, could posses dead bodies by crawling inside them. While possessing the bodies, Ikalgo had access to all of the corpse's former abilities and could release his own arms outside the body. References Category:Characters Category:Demons Category:Male Characters Category:Sensui Seven Category:Upper B-Class Demons